An Historic Sneeze, a Disgusting Sneeze Cloud

In this video about the far-reaching cloud of sneeze particles I used pepper to induce a sneeze of my own. But instead of creating a mortar round of gesundheits, it just made my eyes water and my throat burn. Ah, what we do here at HowStuffWorks to win your hearts.

But that's nothing compared to Fred Ott, one of Thomas Edison's employees known to produce comic sneezes and who, after being administered a pinch of snuff, let out with a “glorious sneeze.” And it was all caught on film by one of Edison's assistants, W.K.L. Dickson, and titled “The Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze.”

So not only is it a copyrighted sneeze, but it's also one of the first successful experimental motion pictures to pave the way to modern-day media.

Though if Edison and Dickson knew about the germ cloud Ott released that historic day, they might have backed up a few feet or even left the room. Find out why in this video if you haven't already.